The White Rock Collectors Association

Here is a brief history of White Rock and
Psyche adapted from a advertising brochure
from the 1970's.

Back in the 1890's the executives of the
White Rock Company were seeking a trade
-mark that would reflect the clear, sparkling purity of their product. In 1893 they found
this painting by Paul Thurman of Psyche at
the Chicago Worlds Fair, purchased the trade-mark rights
and made "Psyche" the White Rock
Girl.
This goddess of purity, bending over a
crystal clear spring perfectly symbolized
the
purity of the sparkling water which
was
being bottled directly from the renowned spring in Waukesha, Wisconsin . . . where
the
water bubbles up through 1,400 feet
of
alabaster white rock.

2000 B. C.Psyche (pronounced SIGH-key) was a mortal
woman who became a goddess and heroine in
Greek mythology. She was the daughter of
an ancient king and was so extremely beautiful
that she aroused the envy of the goddess
Venus. In an effort to eliminate this alluring
rival Venus sent her son Cupid (the god of
love) down to earth to make Psyche fall in
love with a mortal man. Cupid instead, fell
in love with her and carried Psyche back
to Paradise. This infuriated Venus, who subsequently
plotted to torment and possibly kill Psyche
by diabolically pretending to test the maiden's
diligence with four seemingly impossible
and dangerous tasks. Thanks to supernatural
intervention, Psyche miraculously survived
to eventually drink a cup of magical ambrosia
(which was probably the closest thing they
had to White Rock in those days) presented
by Jupiter, chief of the gods and became
a goddess. The story ends in the best Hollywood
tradition. Venus gave the couple her blessings
and they lived happily ever after.

Over the years the Psyche image has
become longer legged, slimmer hipped
and
streamlined. Today - when purity is
so important - she continues to symbolize the
constant purity of all White Rock products.
From left to right 1894, 1947 and 1970's

The White Rock company was founded in 1876
near Waukesha, Wisconsin; where crystal
clear
mineral waters bubbled up from a large
white
rock, much like the one pictured on
the White
Rock label. The site had previously
been
frequented by wandering Potawatomi
Indians
and white settlers who valued the waters
for their "medicinal" values
and
legendary healthful qualities.

King Edward VII
Ambassador Without Portfolio - By 1895
America's
favorite sparkling table water and
mixer
went international; and in 1901 was
featured
at the coronation banquet of England's
King
Edward VII. A British newspaper later
commented
that the King always used White Rock
to dilute
his wine.

Charles A. Lindbergh
Charles A. Lindbergh - In ceremonies
preceding
his historic flight (New York to Paris,
May
20, 1927 - May 21, 1927), Lindbergh
launched
his "Spirit of St. Louis"
transatlantic
monoplane with a bottle of White Rock
Sparkling
Water. A beverage, at that time immediately
identified in the public mind as a
touch
of class.

During the fabulous forties Psyche grew thinner
and taller. Our reproduction from a
feature
article in Life Magazine of June 30,
1947
shows artist Charles Kingham and model
Bettye
Martin working to create the famous
streamlined
image still seen on White Rock products,
trucks and vending machines.

Still refined, demure and disrobed, our goddess
of the 70's is also photogenic. Psyche
was
photographed by fashion photographer
Tom
Andron and posed for by New York model
Monica
Just. Finding Miss Just, ,our current
White
Rock girl, wasn't easy. Photographer
Tom
Andron interviewed more than 100 girls
before
he found the perfect Psyche. We like
to feel
that the combined talents of this photographer-model
team successfully reflects the freshness,
spirit and quality of our products
and at
the same time captures the familiar
look
of one of the world's most famous trademarks.